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Apple's new $349 HomePod sounds incredible and is the ultimate speaker for Apple Music subscribers, but it's also an excellent way to manage your HomeKit-compatible devices through Siri voice commands.

Controlling HomeKit accessories with Siri on HomePod isn't radically different from controlling them via an iOS device, but there are some extra HomePod benefits to be aware of.

HomePod and HomeKit Setup

If you've never used HomeKit before and you purchase a HomePod, when you set it up it's added to HomeKit and to the Home app.

Setup includes a step asking you to choose a Home you're using HomePod in, and if you don't have Home settings already established, it'll let you choose the default "My Home" option, which is established for every iCloud account. If you use HomeKit already like I do, you can choose your existing home, if it has a different name.

From there, you'll choose the room where your HomePod is located, which is also a HomeKit setup step. You'll be familiar with this if you've ever used HomeKit before.

With these two setup steps, you establish a HomeKit setup if you didn't have one before. HomePod itself is a HomeKit accessory, and it's controlled and managed in the dedicated "Home" app along with all other HomeKit accessories.

HomePod in the Home App

The HomePod is listed in the Home app as an available accessory, and if you're a HomeKit user, you know how this works. If you're not, the Home app isn't tough to navigate.

Your HomePod will be listed as "HomePod" on the main screen, and if you tap it, it will either play or pause your music. A 3D Touch or a long press on the HomePod icon in the Home app opens up a full menu where you can get to the HomePod settings by tapping on "Details."

This is where you can change HomeKit settings like turning off Siri, deactivating the Siri lights, disabling listening history, and more. Your HomePod is controlled entirely through the Home app.

Home Hub

HomePod, like the Apple TV and iPad, serves as a home hub, which means it communicates with all of your HomeKit devices all the time, allowing you to control them even when you're away from home.

A home hub is essential for controlling HomeKit devices remotely and setting up automations based on time of day, location, or conditions detected by HomeKit-compatible sensors. If you have an Apple TV or an iPad, you've already got a home hub and don't need to worry about this functionality, but if you don't, this is added bonus functionality.

HomePod as a home hub covers all of the HomeKit devices in your home, even if they're not located close by the HomePod itself.

Siri on HomePod

One of the best benefits of the HomePod is how well it can hear and react to "Hey Siri" commands. It will hear you from across the room with loud music playing, and it's so sensitive that it's even going to detect the "Hey Siri" command if you whisper it nearby.

It's not an exaggeration to say that the HomePod's listening capabilities work incredibly well, so for HomeKit-based voice commands, it's much better than attempting to use an iPhone. You can essentially say "Hey Siri" and repeat a HomeKit command from anywhere in a room with a HomePod, and you're going to get a speedy response.

The listening range far exceeds the iPhone or iPad, and it makes the HomePod the perfect hands-free device for controlling everything from the lights to the door locks. Longtime HomeKit users who often use voice commands will find this much simpler, and HomeKit users who don't often use Siri should give the personal assistant a second chance on HomePod.

By the way, if you have both a HomePod and an iOS device that responds to "Hey Siri," when you speak, it will almost always default to the HomePod. This is because all of your devices communicate with one another and are smart enough to know that the HomePod is the device that you're aiming to use.

TIP: Don't pause between "Hey Siri" and whatever HomeKit command you're speaking. If you want to turn on the lights, for example, say "Hey Siri turn on the lights" all at once rather than saying "Hey Siri" and waiting for a response. Siri on the HomePod works well enough that a pause isn't required, and it can even confuse your HomeKit commands if you insert a pause.

Manually Activating Siri

If you want to issue a Siri command without "Hey Siri," you can do so by placing a finger on the HomePod and leaving it there for a few seconds until the Siri waveform lights come on. From there, Siri works as usual.

HomePod Siri Commands

While Siri on HomePod is excellent at detecting "Hey Siri" commands, Apple hasn't implemented any upgrades to the way Siri is controlled via voice on the HomePod. If you already use Siri to manage HomeKit devices on iOS, Siri on HomePod works in the exact same way.

If you're new to Siri and HomeKit, though, there are tons of commands you can use, many of which are specific to certain devices. With lights, for example, you can use some of the following commands:

• Hey Siri, turn on the lights
• Hey Siri, turn off the lights
• Hey Siri, dim the lights
• Hey Siri, make all of the lights in the office maximum brightness
• Hey Siri, are the lights in the office on?
• Hey Siri, turn all of the lights in the office blue
• Hey Siri, turn the Hue lightstrip purple

HomeKit commands vary, so you'll need to learn the different options available for each device. With locks, for example, you can ask Siri to lock or unlock the door, and if you have a temperature sensor or thermostat, you can ask Siri what the temperature is.

Scenes and automation are a major part of HomeKit, but there's no voice-based way to set these up. If you want to link your HomeKit devices together to have them do certain things at set times of day, such as turning on all of the lights at night, you're going to need to set that up in the Home app or a third-party HomeKit app.

That said, Scenes are incredibly useful, and you can set up handy automations for waking up, going to bed, leaving home, arriving home, and more, and all of these can be controlled via HomePod by asking Siri to set the scene name. If you have a night time scene called "Good Night," for example, you can trigger it just by saying "Hey Siri, Good Night."

Conclusion

If you already have a HomeKit setup, the HomePod has some handy features that make it a worthwhile purchase, and if you have a HomePod but no HomeKit devices, it may be worth looking into HomeKit accessories because they work so well with HomePod.

For those of you who have never used Siri with HomeKit or have abandoned Siri because of spotty results, it's worth giving Siri on HomePod another try. In my experience as a longtime HomeKit user, HomePod is a solid evolutionary step towards a better hands-free home automation setup.

"Hey Siri" on HomePod seems to be more responsive on HomePod, and it's easier to use because you don't need to make sure your iPhone is close at hand to accomplish tasks around the house.

HomePod has built-in Siri functionality, which means it can be used to do a lot of the same things that can be done with an iPhone or an iPod, like setting an alarm or a timer.

If your HomePod is in the kitchen, setting a timer while cooking can be useful, and it's as simple as using a single Siri command.

All you need to say is "Hey Siri, set a timer for [x amount of time]."

You can set a timer for a select number of minutes or hours, with a maximum timer limit of 24 hours. If you ask Siri to set a timer for longer than 24 hours, Siri will suggest you use a Reminder instead.

If you need to know how much time is remaining on the timer, you can ask Siri a question like "Hey Siri, how much time is left on the timer?" and Siri will give you a time update.

When the time is up, the HomePod will play a sound. To stop the timer sound, you can either tap the top of the HomePod or ask Siri to stop it.

Turning Off the Timer

At any point while the timer is running, you can ask Siri to turn it off with a command like "Hey Siri, turn off the timer" or "Hey Siri, pause the timer."

You can also change the timer countdown with a command like "Hey Siri, change the timer to 10 minutes."

Timer Limitations

Unfortunately, you can only set one timer at a time. If you attempt to set a second timer while the first timer you set is still running, Siri will say "A timer is already running at [x minutes]. Would you like to replace it?"

There's also no way to view or manage your HomePod timers on an iOS device like there is with alarms -- timers on HomePod all handled via voice with Siri.

There are many commands that Siri can understand on the HomePod that make it super simple to take quick notes and set up reminders for later, which all sync to any iOS device connected to the smart speaker. As long as you allowed the ‌HomePod‌ access to Contacts, Messages, Reminders, and Notes in the initial pairing process, you'll be able to ask ‌Siri‌ to do the commands in this guide.

First, make sure that your iOS device and ‌HomePod‌ are on the same Wi-Fi network, so that the Notes and Reminders apps get synced to the requests you make to ‌Siri‌ on ‌HomePod‌. Then, check out the commands below that you can speak to ‌Siri‌ so you can create new notes and reminders on your iPhone or iPad.

Siri Commands for Reminders

The basic starter command for the Reminders app when speaking to ‌Siri‌ is "Hey ‌Siri‌, remind me to..." After that, you can follow up with essentially any everyday task that you want to be sure to remember.

Reminders can be more specific, as well. You can add a specific time of day or future date when you want the reminder to appear as a push notification on your iOS device, and use places that are in your Contacts to set off a reminder.

• "Hey ‌Siri‌, remind me to clean the kitchen."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, remind me to tell Sam happy birthday tomorrow at 10:00 a.m."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, remind me to pack for the beach Monday afternoon."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, remind me to text Dad when I leave the house."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, mark take out the trash as complete."

If you have some pre-set lists in your Reminders app, you can also ask ‌Siri‌ to add items to it. One of the most common lists to create is one for "shopping," and if ‌HomePod‌ is in your kitchen ‌Siri‌ can help you quickly build your shopping list. ‌Siri‌ can also help set up a new list if you want.

• "Hey ‌Siri‌, create a new shopping list."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, add bread to my shopping list."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, what's on my shopping list?"
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, remove milk from my shopping list."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, mark coffee as completed on my shopping list."

Siri Commands for Notes

Similar to Reminders, ‌Siri‌ can create you a new Note through simple voice commands when you're near your ‌HomePod‌. If you already have a Note created, you can also add new text into it through ‌Siri‌.

• "Hey ‌Siri‌, add a note called birthday present ideas."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, add iTunes gift card to my birthday present ideas list."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, create a note called shows to watch."
• "Hey ‌Siri‌, add Parks and Recreation to my shows to watch note."

At any time, Personal Requests can be deactivated on your ‌HomePod‌ by navigating to the Home app, tapping the arrow button in the top left corner, tapping your name, and then toggling off Personal Requests. When it is on, remember that as long as the ‌HomePod‌ and the iOS device are on the same network, anyone near the ‌HomePod‌ can create a Note and Reminder when speaking to ‌Siri‌.

Apple's new HomePod smart speaker is designed primarily for Apple devices, and it's heavily tied to the Apple ecosystem. Natively, you can only stream music on the HomePod through an Apple Music subscription, iTunes purchases, or iTunes Match content uploaded to iCloud Music Library.

It might sound like you're out of luck if you subscribe to a third-party music service like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime Music, Google Play Music, Tidal, or another option, but it's not impossible -- you can still play content from these services to HomePod, you'll just need to use AirPlay to do it.

With most music apps, you can start up a song and then choose a device to play to right from within the app. These instructions will be specific to Spotify.

1. Open Spotify and choose a track to play.
2. On the main screen that shows song details, tap on "Devices Available."
3. Choose "More Devices."
4. Tap on the icon for your HomePod, and music will be streamed directly to it.

Here's an alternative method that works with Spotify and all other music apps:

1. Start a song in Spotify or another app.
2. Open the Control Center on the iPhone or iPad.
3. 3D Touch or long press on the music widget.
4. Tap on the AirPlay icon in the upper right side of the widget.
5. Select the HomePod icon.

It will take a few seconds for the iPhone or iPad to connect to HomePod, but once it's connected, your music will be streamed to HomePod from your iPhone.

You generally need an Apple device to stream music to the HomePod because it requires AirPlay functionality, but some HTC phones support AirPlay, and there are unofficial third-party Android apps that work with AirPlay, so these devices may also work with the HomePod. You can't, however, connect devices to the HomePod over a Bluetooth connection.

When streaming music to HomePod through AirPlay, you're not going to have full Siri support, but you can use Siri to play/pause music, change the volume, and change music tracks.

To celebrate the official launch of the HomePod, Sonos, one of Apple's major competitors in the speaker market, made a "Welcome to the Party" playlist for the new device with a hidden message.

Shared on Twitter, the playlist features 21 songs, with each song selected for its title to send a secret note to Apple. Here's the song list:

Hello / Apple / Something About Us / Together / Feels Right / Even Though / You're Crazy / For This / Home / POD / Remember / Two Is Better Than One / Just Playing / It's a Party / Everybody's Coming To My House / Even You / Come As You Are / Fruit Machine / No Matter What You're Told / We're Going To Be Friends / Over Everything

Sending messages through Spotify playlists is a phenomenon that was popular for a brief time right around April of 2017, due to the way Spotify playlists can be arranged and displayed linearly on both the web and within Spotify's apps. The practice is less common now, and though Sonos is using it to send what appears to be a friendly message, it's also a jab at Apple.

The Sonos Spotify playlist made for Apple can't be played natively on an Apple HomePod because the HomePod is limited to content played from Apple Music or iTunes. It can, of course, be played using AirPlay from a connected Mac or iOS device, but that's less convenient than the native playback available via Sonos speakers.

Sonos hasn't had much competition in the high-end connected speaker market, and for years, it's been the go-to brand for high-quality multi-room sound, so it's not surprising that the company feels somewhat threatened by the HomePod.

The launch of devices like the Amazon Echo and the Google Home likely didn't concern Sonos because of the lack of focus on audio quality, but many new HomePod owners have discovered that the HomePod sounds just as good or better than Sonos speakers.

Back in October, Sonos launched its Sonos One, a speaker that directly competes with the HomePod thanks to the combination of Sonos sound and Amazon Alexa smarts.

Sonos kept the price of the Sonos One low at $199, and when the HomePod went on sale, as an attempt to lure Apple customers, Sonos kicked off a deal offering two of its Sonos One speakers for $349, the same price as a single HomePod.

While Sonos and Apple are now direct competitors, the HomePod and the Sonos One can peacefully co-exist once Apple's AirPlay 2 protocol officially launches. Sonos has promised to add AirPlay 2 support to the Sonos One, and with AirPlay 2, a person who owns both a Sonos One and a HomePod will be able to play music to both devices at the same time over-the-air.

Over the past five days, Uber and Waymo have been entangled in a court case over Waymo's allegations that Uber stole its self-driving LiDAR system. Today, the two companies have announced that they reached a settlement agreement, under which Uber will pay Waymo a 0.34 equity stake, "amounting to about $245 million at Uber's recent $72 billion valuation" (via CNBC).

Additionally, Uber has agreed that it will not incorporate Waymo's self-driving technology into any of its own hardware or software. Alongside the settlement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a letter that the company "does not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber," nor that Waymo's tech was used by Uber in any way, but expressed regret for the ongoing trial over the past year and the events that led up to it.

To be clear, while we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber, nor do we believe that Uber has used any of Waymo’s proprietary information in its self-driving technology, we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work.

While I cannot erase the past, I can commit, on behalf of every Uber employee, that we will learn from it, and it will inform our actions going forward. I’ve told Alphabet that the incredible people at Uber ATG are focused on ensuring that our development represents the very best of Uber’s innovation and experience in self-driving technology.

Waymo's lawsuit concerned Uber and its acquisition of self-driving trucking startup Otto, with Waymo believing that employees at Otto stole information from Alphabet-owned Waymo and shared it with Uber. Despite Khosrowshahi's belief that no such data was seen or used by Uber, the company appears ready to put the legal battle behind it through the settlement and payment to Waymo.

As the fight between the two companies stretched throughout last year, Waymo began a self-driving car test in Phoenix, Arizona, which eventually expanded to testing an autonomous ride-hailing service with no safety drivers. With its fleet of more than 600 minivans, Waymo is considered one of the leaders in the field of self-driving technology, which Apple is now attempting to catch up with through "accelerating" its self-driving efforts in California.

Apple's HomePod speaker is best enjoyed when linked to an Apple Music subscription, since this allows you to make the most of Siri's enhanced music smarts and its DJ-like role as a personal music curator, or "mixologist", as Apple calls it.

As ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers will know, the streaming service learns your music preferences based on what you say and play, which helps it populate the app's "For You" section with new songs that you might like, and enables ‌Siri‌ to generate new playlists on the fly at your request.

But what if you frequently command ‌Siri‌ to play music for other people in your household, such as your children? Using ‌HomePod‌ to play songs that don't align with your own tastes can quickly skew your ‌Apple Music‌ recommendations. Fortunately, you can avoid your recommendations being inundated with Encanto or Frozen tracks by disabling a simple setting. It's called "Use Listening History", and here's how to find it.

How to Disable Your HomePod's Listening History

1. Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
   

2. Tap the ellipsis button (three encircled dots) in the top-right corner of the main Home screen.
   

3. Tap Home Settings in the dropdown menu.
4. Under "People," tap your name.
   
   

5. Under the "Music & Podcasts" section, tap Update Listening History.
6. Toggle off the switches next to the ‌HomePod‌ devices that you want to disable listening history updates on.
   

That's all there is to it. By turning off the setting, ‌HomePod‌ will happily continue to play songs from Apple's vast music catalog for you on behalf of others in your home, but the songs will be excluded from its personal curation algorithms and they will no longer appear in your recommendations. You can easily revert this setting by turning the switches back on in the last step.

Apple has discounted its BeatsX, Solo3 Wireless, and Powerbeats3 Wireless headphones by $30 to $60 for a limited time in the United States.

• BeatsX — regular $149.95, now $119.95
  

• Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless — regular $199.95, now $159.95
  

• Beats Solo3 Wireless — regular $299.95, now $239.95

Apple's discount on Beats Solo3 Wireless headphones also applies to the newer "Neighborhood Collection" colors.

Apple's deals match those frequently offered by authorized resellers like B&H Photo Video, which has BeatsX and Solo3 Wireless on sale for the same prices, but even lower prices can be found on Amazon for select colors.

• BeatsX — regular $149.95, now $109
  

• Powerbeats3 Wireless — regular $199.95, now $134
  

• Solo3 Wireless — regular $299.95, now $219.99

Like AirPods, the BeatsX, Solo3 Wireless, and Powerbeats3 Wireless are equipped with Apple's W1 chip for instant pairing with an iPhone. They can then simultaneously connect to an Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.

All three headphones feature Fast Fuel. Five minutes of charging provides up to three hours of playback for the Solo3 Wireless, two hours of playback for the BeatsX, and an hour of playback for the Powerbeats3 Wireless.

Apple's special Beats prices are available in the United States only for a limited time.

Disclosure: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with B&H Photo Video and may get paid if you click one of the above links and make a purchase.